I observe what’s happening on Facebook. Most people I know keep adding to their “friend list,” most of whom are people they don’t know much.

I asked a friend why her “friend list” is huge,  2,000+; she said she kept accepting as friends people she didn’t know. Why? Some people are just hooked on adding friends, the more the better.

Which would you rather have, hundreds of contacts on Facebook to make you look cool and awesome, or a few true friends on your list? True friends you really know, who can encourage you to be a better person?

Many teens nowadays tend to make friends through social-networking sites. It has become very simple and easy, as they can have online friends from different countries. Social networking definitely transformed how we communicate with the world, even allowing us to reach relatives based in distant lands.

But there is always a danger in making friends online. People on the Internet can hide their true identity, pretending to be nice. They say there are even Facebook crimes, the youth being easy targets for bad people.

Consider this analogy: If you owned a brand-new car, will you let just anyone inside? Similarly, if your parents allow you to have a social-networking account, you face a similar decision with regard to whom you will invite—or accept—as a friend.

Can true friends be found on that huge friend list? If they are trustworthy, self-sacrificing and can help you become a better person, they are worth having as friends. Do your friends help you reach your potential as a person, or do you have to lower your standards to fit in with them?

According to Proverbs 13:20: “He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.”

Choose your friends wisely. Knowing a lot of people (or having X amount of friends) is like having a collection of wonderful pairs of shoes that look nice but don’t fit. You always go back to the few items that you know work for you, like real friends. It doesn’t matter how many your friends are; quality precedes quantity.